Church serves nearly 1,000 free dinners

Monday

Nov 25, 2013 at 10:54 PM

Hannibal’s American Legion Hall on Highway MM was filled with hundreds of people and the aroma of a turkey dinner with all the trimmings on Sunday, Nov. 24, when Standing on the Rock Ministries served nearly 1,000 turkey Thanksgiving dinners.

Bev Darrbev.darr@courierpost.com

Hannibal’s American Legion Hall on Highway MM was filled with hundreds of people and the aroma of a turkey dinner with all the trimmings on Sunday, Nov. 24, when Standing on the Rock Ministries served nearly 1,000 turkey Thanksgiving dinners.In the fifth year the church has provided this free Thanksgiving dinner for the public, more than 100 volunteers from the church were on hand to deliver the meals, then serve them to the people arriving at the American Legion in the evening.More than 400 meals were delivered, according to the pastor, the Rev. Jamie Dyke. The congregation provides the food, said Beth White, as she kept a record of the meals being delivered or served in the dining room. She had baked three turkeys and made dressing for the dinner.Serving the dinner, White said, is “our thanks to the community and our outreach.”Helping greet the people at the door was Megan Yeater, who explained she had baked 12 pumpkin pies on Saturday.White reported that after the 400 meals had een delivered, another 150 were carried out by people in the dining room, and 317 were served in the dining room.This was in addition to the more than 100 volunteers, who ate after the crowd was served.Explaining why his church continues to serve this free meal year after year, Dyke said “The Lord put it in our hearts to reach out to the community.“Our cost gets covered every year,” Dyke added, “And the American Legion donated the building.”“It’s going really well,” said Brittany James, who coordinated the dinner. “It’s the most I’ve seen. We really get to bless a lot of people.”